Next time somebody carps to you about how electric vehicles are a gigantic government conspiracy to steal your freedom to spew hydrocarbons, or that climate change is a made-up lie to enslave the masses, or something equally stupid, here’s a factoid you can toss back at the accuser. Volkswagen’s all-electric ID.3 is just completing its first full year in the marketplace, having been placed on sale here earlier this year, a bit later after it went on sale in the EU. Since then, ID.4s have been delivered for fleet use in the United Kingdom, and the first deliveries to retail customers have begun in China. So people are buying these cars.
Volkswagen has just disclosed its first market research into ID.4 sales in conjunction with the EV’s appearance at the Chengdu Motor Show in China. Globally, more than 144,000 orders have been placed for the ID.4 – fully half of them from new customers who have never owned a Volkswagen in the past. The research shows buyers are attracted for three reasons: climate-friendly, innovative, strong dealer network. In August, the ID.4 was the top-selling EV in markets including Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Austria and Switzerland. The ID.4-dedicated assembly line at the Volkswagen plant in Zwickau, Germany, is now running three shifts to keep up with demand.
Jim Donnelly On Wheels 